It is well known that carpets which up a cleaned regularly once only have a better appearance, but also wear significantly longer than carpets that are permitted to carry traffic while they are filled with dirt. Many of the individual particles that would make up the dirt on a carpet are abrasive in nature. Therefore, continual traffic on a dirty carpet simply works to abrade the backing and pile of the carpet by forcing the dirt back into the carpet. For this reason, carpet manufacturers recommend periodic cleaning of carpets. Although it is possible to pick up carpet and transport it to a facility for cleaning, many carpets cannot be readily moved from their location. Wall-to-wall carpet installations are semipermanent in nature and it is not contemplated that one a carpet is installed in this fashion that it would be removed for cleaning or any other purpose. Also, a carpet which covers an extremely large area would be heavy and difficult to remove for cleaning purposes. It can be readily understood that in many installations, it is particularly advantageous if the carpet can be cleaned in place rather than being removed to some distant point for cleaning.
Many cleaning methods apply water to the carpet being cleaned. Unless great care is taken, the water can create substantial problems. Among these problems are: the backing material of many carpets shrinks or decomposes when wet; underlying surfaces, such as oak flooring, are ruined by water; any dye which is not waterfast will run or fade; all normal traffic must be re-routed since the wet carpet cannot be walked on; and, all furniture must be removed from the entire carpet surface since the wet carpet would be marked by their presence while the carpet was drying.
Considering the practicality of using water to clean a carpet, and considering the many disadvantages of having that water saturate the carpet or stay in the carpet for any significant period of time, it can be appreciated that an effective and preferred carpet soil extractor would be one which is capable of removing the applied water from the carpet immediately and completely.
Accordingly, a primary object of my invention is to provide a carpet soil extractor that utilizes water for cleaning, yet leaves the carpet substantially dry at the conclusion of the cleaning process.
It is well known to distribute a cleaning agent on the surface of a carpet, agitate the cleaning agent into the pile of the carpet to loosen the retained dirt, and then vacuum the combination of dirt and cleaning agent from the carpet surface. Commonly, the cleaning and extracting of the cleaning agent are separate operations. The first operation loosens the soil from the carpet pile and a second operation removes the cleaning agent and soil from the carpet.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,699,607, issued Oct. 24, 1972, to F. E. Putt, discloses a carpet cleaning apparatus including a plurality of nozzles for directing a flow of water at an angle to the pile of the carpet to be cleaned. A rotary brush agitates the pile of the carpet following which a vacuum or suction chamber picks up the water and any entrained dirt. This apparatus requires a separate vacuum source for creating the pick-up suction to remove the water and soil from the carpet surface. Also, such apparatus requires great care in its use since the powered brushes of the apparatus may permanently damage the carpet.
It is therefore an object of my invention to provide carpet soil extracting apparatus in which all of the machinery required to apply a cleaning agent, agitate it into the pile of the carpet and remove the cleaning agent and any soil from the surface of the carpet is housed in a self-contained single piece of equipment.
It is also an object of my invention to provide carpet soil extracting apparatus having a fixed position brush to prevent inadvertent damage to the carpet being cleaned.
Water is relatively ineffective for loosening the soil that accumulates on the surface of a carpet. Further, any oily residue is generally impervious to water. Therefore, in many applications it is advantageous to use a water solution containing a grease cutting and cleaning agent rather than pure water. Prior art devices, such as that disclosed by Putt, make no provision for the use of such cleaning agents. They would require mixture with the incoming water supply before its delivery to the cleaning apparatus.
It is yet another object of my invention to provide apparatus that automatically mixes a cleaning agent with the incoming water supply in proximity to the cleaning solution discharge point.
These and other features and objects of my invention, will be more readily understood by reading the following detailed description in conjunction with the drawings.